bronchial wall thickening

Beyond

bronchitis: a review of the congenital and acquired abnormalities of the bronchus. Bronchial wall thickening due to bronchitis. Coronal (a) and axial (b) CT imaging demonstrates bronchial wall thickening and areas of mucous plugging (arrowhead). Tram tracking refers to wall thickening in longitudinally oriented bronchi (solid arrow) mimicking the parallel rail tracks of a tram whereas peribronchial cuffing (dashed arrow) refers to wall thickening of the bronchi seen in cross section, sometimes referred to as the “donut sign”

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Bronchial wall thickening is an imaging descriptor used to describe abnormal thickening of bronchial walls and can arise from a vast number of pathological entities. It is one of the causes of peribronchial cuffing.

The presence of bronchial wall thickening usually (but not always) implies inflammation of the airways. On a plain radiograph, it can sometimes be often difficult to differentiate from peribronchovascular thickening.

Pathology

Etiology

inflammatory
- bronchial asthma: some studies suggest this sign on plain film may not be useful in reliably distinguishing an acute asthma exacerbation from normal individuals
- cystic fibrosis: may also have an infective component
- smoking related lung diseases
  - desquamative interstitial pneumonia
  - respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease
- cryptogenic organizing pneumonia
- obstructive sleep apnea
infective
- bronchitis which in turn can arise from various forms of infection which include bronchitis
  - acute bronchitis
  - pulmonary Pseudomonas infection
  - pulmonary Aspergillus infection
    - allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
  - pulmonary mycobacterial infections
    - pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex infection
other
- forms of pulmonary amyloidosis
- neoplastic conditions

bronchial wall thickening

Pathology

Etiology

See also

Siehe auch: